HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-06-02-NAC-minTown of Lexington
Noise Advisory Committee (NAC)
Minutes of Meeting, June 2, 2022
A meeting of the Noise Advisory Committee (“NAC”) was held via Zoom videoconference on Thursday
June 2, 2022, at 7:00 PM. A quorum of three members was present.
NAC Members Present: Dan Koretz (Chair), Vicki Blier, Nick Afshartous
Absent: Stewart Smith, Joe Campbell
Others Present: Mark Sandeen (Select Board)
1. Introductory Remarks
Dan convened the meeting at 7:10 PM.
2. Committee Business
The Committee discussed possible revisions to Section 80, the noise section of the Lexington bylaws.
The Committee focused on general issues and decided to leave specific details about each of them for
later meetings. The Committee reached the following tentative decisions, which will be put to the full
Committee for a vote at the next Committee.
a. Relevant provisions can be found in the noise bylaws and ordinances of many other
communities, and the Committee should use or adapt those that are deemed appropriate.
b. The noise bylaw should have “not to exceed” limits to complement the incremental limits in
the current bylaw.
c. The noise bylaw should have different not to exceed limits for day and night.
d. The noise bylaw should pair specific quantitative limits with a “reasonable person” standard
to make daily enforcement feasible.
e. The Committee was uncertain whether differentiating noise limits by zone or area is feasible
in Lexington because of the lack of separation between residential and non-residential
areas. The Committee will return to this and to the related question of whether to modify
standards for areas adjacent to loud noise sources, such as highways and the Hanscom flight
paths.
f. The new bylaw should include more detailed definitions as needed to make new provisions
defensible.
g. To the extent feasible, the new bylaw should include restrictions on specific noise sources to
make enforcement less burdensome. These might include specific noise limits for specific
sources (such as are included in the MOU for the new Takada Hayden Ave. development),
requirements for noise mitigation (such as the requirements in the current bylaw for some
construction activities), or prohibitions on specific activities (such as the prohibition on the
use of gas-powered leaf blowers during the summer and the pending phase-out of all use).
h. The Committee postponed discussion of technical issues, such as the choice of noise metrics
and how to deal with tonal and time-varying noise, for later meetings.
i. Dan suggested that once we have more specific decisions, we examine the ordinances from
other jurisdictions that we have collected to find illustrative provisions. Vicki suggested that
the Great Neck ordinance is particularly well crafted and suggested that Committee
members review it before the next meeting.
3. Adjournment
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 8:50 PM.